We invited artist Katie Holten to write about her current project, Tree Museum, a public artwork in the Bronx, New York. — Ed.

I think it’s fair to say that Tree Museum
is unlike most other recent public art projects in New York City. The
scale of the project is huge and at ten miles in length, rivals that of
recent blockbusters such as Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s The Gates(Central Park, 2005), Olafur Eliasson’s The New York City Waterfalls (NYC waterfronts, produced by the Public Art Fund, 2008) and PLOT: This World and Nearer Ones (Governor’s Island, produced by CREATIVE TIME, 2009). But the comparison ends there. In all other regards, the Tree Museum is a different species.

Almost invisible, the Tree Museum, which quietly opened on the Grand Concourse
in the Bronx in June, makes the hidden elements of the street visible.
At the root of my practice is an understanding that nature is not
somewhere else. Nature is not far away on an abandoned island or in a
prairie; it is everything around us, including the unforgiving city
streets and the inherently urban communities of the South Bronx. These
very streets are natural and this environment – our sidewalk, our
block, our apartment building, and of course our street tree — is our place in the city.

The Tree Museum invites pedestrians to experience the Bronx,
and New York City, in unexpected ways. One hundred street trees, from
138th Street at the southern tip of the Grand Concourse to Mosholu
Parkway at the northern tip, are the points of entry to this
“museum-without-walls.” The audio guide at the core of the Tree Museum
links the natural and social ecosystems. The recorded voices and
stories are used sculpturally to create an artwork whose roots reach
down into the history of the place, while the branches spread out and
offer insights into the resilient communities, fragile ecologies, and
vibrant daily scenes to be found along the street...

We invited artist Katie Holten to write about her current project, Tree Museum, a public artwork in the Bronx, New York. — Ed.

I think it’s fair to say that Tree Museum
is unlike most other recent public art projects in New York City. The
scale of the project is huge and at ten miles in length, rivals that of
recent blockbusters such as Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s The Gates(Central Park, 2005), Olafur Eliasson’s The New York City Waterfalls (NYC waterfronts, produced by the Public Art Fund, 2008) and PLOT: This World and Nearer Ones (Governor’s Island, produced by CREATIVE TIME, 2009). But the comparison ends there. In all other regards, the Tree Museum is a different species.

Almost invisible, the Tree Museum, which quietly opened on the Grand Concourse
in the Bronx in June, makes the hidden elements of the street visible.
At the root of my practice is an understanding that nature is not
somewhere else. Nature is not far away on an abandoned island or in a
prairie; it is everything around us, including the unforgiving city
streets and the inherently urban communities of the South Bronx. These
very streets are natural and this environment – our sidewalk, our
block, our apartment building, and of course our street tree — is our place in the city.

The Tree Museum invites pedestrians to experience the Bronx,
and New York City, in unexpected ways. One hundred street trees, from
138th Street at the southern tip of the Grand Concourse to Mosholu
Parkway at the northern tip, are the points of entry to this
“museum-without-walls.” The audio guide at the core of the Tree Museum
links the natural and social ecosystems. The recorded voices and
stories are used sculpturally to create an artwork whose roots reach
down into the history of the place, while the branches spread out and
offer insights into the resilient communities, fragile ecologies, and
vibrant daily scenes to be found along the street...